Report: Improving affordable housing in Columbus could add years to lives of poorest

Central Ohio's poorest residents could live 5½ years longer if the region significantly boosts its housing stock, according to a new study that seeks to measure the peripheral damage of high housing costs.

The study, released Tuesday by the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, concludes that 83,000 central Ohio households spend more than half their income on housing, well above the 30% threshold of what is considered affordable.